Many motor vehicles have roofs that are unable to support loads or roofs that are difficult to reach and mount objects thereon without the use of ladders, stepping elements, etc. For example, some vehicle roofs are relatively high compared to many other vehicles. As a result, it is inconvenient to carry objects on the roofs of such vehicles.
Likewise, many vehicles, such as vans, various panel trucks, etc., have rear doors that swing outwardly, i.e., rearwardly to the side, from the vehicle. As a result of such rearwardly swinging doors, it is not possible to mount carriers or racks at the rear of the vehicles without making it difficult to utilize the rearwardly swinging doors.
There are various prior art mounting apparatus for mounting carriers used to protect objects therein from the environment in order to transport articles such as skis, luggage, etc. and mounting bicycles on vehicles. However, such carrier mounts do not adequately solve the problems as described above. Moreover, such mounting apparatus do not adequately and effectively provide mounting apparatus that firmly and rigidly hold the objects while the vehicle is being driven. In addition, such apparatus for mounting bicycles do not take into consideration that bicycles come in various forms. For example, many of the available bicycle racks do not provide for the differences between men's and women's bicycle designs, i.e., such as the cross bar differences.
For the above reasons, there is a need in the art for improved mounting apparatus capable of carrying objects, such as bicycles and skis. In addition, apparatus for use with vehicles having rearwardly swinging doors is needed. The present invention, as described below, overcomes the problems described above and other problems which will become apparent to one skilled in the art from the detailed description below.